24 January 2024

Your Step by Step Guide to Installing A Composite Door

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Your Step by Step Guide to Installing A Composite Door

Preparing To Fit Your Composite Door

Following specific steps when installing your composite door and frame is essential. Installers, whether professional or not, should take great care to fit composite doors in a manner that will ensure their longevity.

These are the steps to follow:

Step one

Before installing, measure the door and frame from the middle bottom to the centre top. Make sure that your measurements for both the door and frame correlate.

Step two

Be sure to check for any damage to the new door before installation. When you install a door with defects, you increase the risk of further issues in the future. You’ll already know the measurement of your door from step one, but it’s still important to double-check that all is as it should be by measuring your existing door and comparing the two. Your new door should be at most 20mm wider and higher, sufficient to square the frame to fit the composite door.

Step three

At this stage, remove your existing door leaf and start to read the opening for your new installation. Use your Stanley knife to score the frame’s perimeter and, using a bearing block to protect plaster and anything else external around the door if necessary, saw through the frame at an angle.

Don’t saw right through, though, as doing so risks exposing and damaging internal structures. You can use a chisel to ease the frame from the wall to allow for a clean cut. Follow the same chisel method to remove the rails at the top and bottom of the doorway.

Step four

Once you’ve removed the door frame, you’ll need to ensure the opening has no leftover filler, plaster, screws or nails, as you’ll require a clean area to work.

Be sure to fix any parts of the door opening that are in disrepair, and check that there’s a lintel or structure that will keep the weight of the wall above your front doorway.

Step five

Ascertain whether the position of the composite door is suitable for its upcoming use, and double-check that the frame is true and square. No twisting should occur in either the vertical or horizontal plane to prevent outer frame distortion.

You should set the outer door frame as far back as possible to reduce exposure to the weather and fasten it into the brickwork using heavy-duty 8 x 100mm sheathed frame-fixing bolts. Bolt these into the wall to at least 50 millimeters depth and secure them by alternative tightening until the frame pulls square. Don’t ever over tighten your fixings.

Ensure you’ve bridged your wall cavity and that your damp proofing course (DPC) is adequately covered.

Step six

At this point, you should use some plastic sheeting to cover any floor tiles or other exposed items nearby that you want to protect from dust or debris. Position the composite door’s handle to make the upcoming process more manageable.

Use 120mm concrete door screws and your drill to drill through the frame into the brickwork, starting at the bottom and moving upwards. Fix the butt hinges for the door to the outside frame by following the hinging instructions supplied.

You might need to adjust the frame’s position to ensure it’s true and square while completing the hinge-fixing positions, so use a spirit level to ensure you’ve carried out the hinge installation evenly. Most installers prefer fixed butt hinges, but you can also use other hinges.

Fitting Your Composite Door

Once you’ve made sure that your door frame is ready to install the new door, start installing your composite door.

Step one

Before opening the door, use the 4mm Allen key to tighten the hinge screws to keep them in place once fitted. If you haven’t already done so, fit the door handles and screw them in with a screwdriver.

Step two

Pick up your composite door and gently place it upright inside the prepared doorway, keeping it at a 90 degree angle to the entrance and holding it within the frame opening using installation packers to ensure the door doesn’t move.

Place the installation packers close to the fixing positions, preventing any distortion of the outer frame while tightening the fixings. If you don’t place these packers in the immediate vicinity, it could impact the future functionality of the door.

If possible, try to recruit somebody to help you avoid any safety risk problems and damage to your door.

Install the lock mechanism that aligns between the door and frame, and make certain you can close and lock the door without any problems.

Carefully place the door into the prepared opening. It’s advisable to have support from another person for safety and reduce damage to the door.

Step three

Pack the bottom of your door leaf in position with installation packers, which help to set the door straight into the outer frame.

When you’ve packed your composite door in place, screw the hinge screws into the door on the door-side of the hinge, but leave them loose so you can manoeuvre the door as necessary.

Your composite door should be loose enough to move around.

Make certain that the hinges line up perfectly with the frame and that no more than a 5mm air gap exists on the lock side of your door. Once you’ve found this ideal position, tighten all of the screws.

Step four

Should any gaps exist around your door frame, fill these spaces with expanding foam using your foam gun, and allow at least 60 minutes as curing time.

Next, cut and seat the top casing and side trim around your composite door.

Clean your newly-installed door to remove any leftover residue before you place silicone sealant around the applicable areas on the frame.

Several sealant colours are available at retailers, so use one that will match your door or wall colours for the best effect.

Once the surface is dry, apply the sealant around the frame to prevent air and water infiltration. Finally, seal your door with white silicone sealant to complete the job.

Our composite doors perform brilliantly and look amazing. To learn more, please get in touch today.

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